Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-04
MODERN WITCHCRAFT.
Superstitions Among Pennsylvania
Germans-s'POWwowers" and Their
Unique Prescriptions.
Benevolent Witch Occult Cures.
Omens PrevaIsnt-The Mag cal
Witch Hazel.
Globe Democrat.

ing witChcraft and superstition in his ma
tive state. Speaking Of the article OF
"Ssories of Witchcrsft," published in the
Globe Democrat OF Wednesday last, hi
says:
"The case reporte d-that of a suit tc
recover damages for killing dog by
w!tChcraft, and the giving Judgment tC
plaintiff by justice OF the peece-is GER
tainly an extreme one. | doubt If it has
ever before occurred in Pennsyl,
vaDi4. But it is entirely credible,
IS l have knowledge of Instances OF
superstition in that state which are quite
as astonishing, only with the legal feature
left out. A cOuntryman OF mine, an
honest old fellow, who is now engaged
chiefly IN living his past life over again,
once assured me that he knew man who
by enchanJment temporarily transformed
himself iutc q bnll, and who had the
power Of INJECTING pain upon and even
manning an euemy by simply making q
little wooden mauikiu e rude ettigy OF
his enemy, and treating 1t as he would
wish his enemy to be treated. The
philosophy of it was, | suppose,
that some occult vital correspond
ence was established by the wiz,
ard between his enemy and the
latter's wooden representative. And |
have heard of which doctors being sen! for
dozens of miles to cure q bewitched
person or horse. But this was in the
olden time, and only the Oldest inhab-
itants know anything about it.
A bit of history concerning the ances-
tors of the man who sued his mother for
killing his dog by witchcraft may not be
embarrassing. Immediately after the
settlement OF Pennsylvania by the
Quekers, and when Penn promised
religious federation to all denomina
tons, streams of German immigrants
from Baden, the Palatinate, Wur-
t.mburg, Bavaria, and other prov
from Krefeld and Wittgenstein
(Cleves, Prussia, Moravians and
Schwenkfelders from Saxony Upper
Lusatia) poured into the colony. The
immigrants from Upper or South Ger
many we're mostly Luthersns and Re-
formed, and came III such numbers before
100 that they spread widely over the
territory now occupied by Montgomery,
Lehgh. Berks and Bucks counties and
impressed their dialect upon all German
settlers. At present taey are found all
ever the state; tiYe-6i1 h5 Of Eastern
Pennsylvania belongs to them their de
scendants are found in every state in the
Union, and ii is safe 10 say that
there are over 100000 strictly Pennsyl-
vania Germans IN the United States.
MISNOMER.
Their dialect, by the way, Is German,
as any student Of Teutonic languages
kaows at a glance, and to call it Dutch
is blunder in the face Of history, which
has no excuse save that it sounds little
like the German word Deutch. These
settlers brought with them their house
hold : DDS and certain curious supersti-
tons, some of which were doubtless of
natural growth, though others, 1t is plain,
were deliberately constructed by
such necrOmanCers Of the dark ages as
Nostradamus and AiDertus Magnus. These
latter beliefs had definite form in books
on the black art, which contained formu-
lir for all sorts of hocus pocus, and &C
cording to these formula old witches
like Barbara Fischer and Mother Roske
practiced their sCrCeries. These two old
ladies, so well described in the article
above referred to, are a remnant and
must be living in out-of-the- way places
among the mountains where the black art
can hide undisturbed by the headlight of
the locomotive and the brilliancy of the
electric light.
They are the only living practical
witches | have heard of being IN Pennsyl-
vania: sorcery there at present is believed
in only by few old people in obscure
hooks of the valleys, aud in practice has
dwindled to mild form of powwowing
One thing l an devoutly glad of, witch
craft in Pennsylvania has always been
nothing but harmless Gelusion, and has
never taken the violent, tragical form
which is such blur in the glory of New
England.
POwOwING.
OF this relic of med avail superstition
] have personal knowledge and propose
to give some examples. 1t is generally
an old woman who possesses the mysti-
cal power, and this consists simply in re-
peatilg iBaudibly certain runes, more or
less Ineligible, accompanied by. certain
TIE number three Is an
essential feature; thrice is the rune re-
peated, accompanied by movements of
the hand, and this perform
ance is gone through with
three times. For example,
in powwowiug for Inflammation the
powwower says thrice German rhyme
during which time she moves the fingers
of her right hand thrice around the in
famed part, touching it, and then blows
her breath upon il three times. The
whole is repeated a second ana third
time. In like manner, for an inflamed
eye-balI (Schussblooter) "Schusblooter
put" is repeated, and at the close of the
the powwower blows into the
eve sprinkling of wood-ashes from a
plate held before the subjects face.
For sitting, or arresting the flow of
blood from a wound, count back from
iorty to eighteen and then repeat the sub
ect's name; do this three times. Or,
count in same way from sixty to twenty
nine. have heard men stoutly aver tina.
hey have seen blood squirting from q
severed artery instantly stilled by the
charm of a powwow. For collie; upon q
piece of Taper write these cabalistic
words:
"DADA: GAgA: HAGA.'
Roll the paper into the shape of pill
ind let the subject swallow it. The pa
DER pill may BE buttered or otherwise
rendered easier OF swallowing. The cure
S instantaneous. An out and out panacea:
Write or print on square piece of paper
he following:
ROTA
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